Salad Conquest: The Hairy Monk - The Cure of the McBambino

The Hairy Monk
http://www.thehairymonknyc.com/
337 3rd Avenue
New York, NY 10010-2341

THE CONQUEST
An Irish Sports bar by every sense of the definition, The Hairy Monk, is full of beers, single malts, loud music, Irish people, authentic cuisine like full breakfast, Mixed Grill, Shepherds Pie, beef stew and more. They're so Irish in fact, that they proudly display their affiliation with the Red Sox Nation. Now, I'm a Yankees fan through and through but I wouldn't let something like a baseball rivalry stand in the way of eating a burger. Besides, I am a Tigers fan at heart and I know exactly what a losing streak is all about.

Truth be told, I wasn't even in the mood for the burger and was eyeballing the traditional Irish fare. But then I noticed an entire page of the menu dedicated to just my little beefy friends. The following text was printed at the bottom - "Our Hamburgers are ½ Pound Of Freshly Ground Beef, Lightly Seasoned, Chargrilled to Perfection & Served with Lettuce, Tomato, onion & Pickle on a Sesame Seed Bun." Temptation was building. But then I read the word's that put my burger cravings into full gear "Irish Bacon." Cara, Chuck and I looked at each other and each selected a burger.

THE BURGER
I ordered the "Monk's Burger; Served with Irish Bacon, Cheddar Cheese & Sauteed Mushrooms." Zots the 'shrooms, replace the fries with salad ('cuz I have had WAY TOO MANY burgers of late), cook it medium-rare and GIMME!! I have to be honest and admit that although I really liked the atmosphere at the Monk, they had a great juke box (lots of metal and punk) and had a very attentive bar staff. However our server, just wasn't on top of things. She was slow, forgot items and had the personality of a cold fish. Sorry, the truth must prevail. The burger, just about the same. Looked good, smelled good, put together well but wasn't anything special. The bun was standard, the cheese, despite being in abundance wasn't all that flavorful and the beef itself tasted like your stand back yard BBQ, grocery store purchased ground chuck. In fact, the only redeeming quality was the Irish Bacon, which was superb. In fact, I would consider a rehash of The Hairy Monk for a full Irish Breakfast and beer, but not a burger. It certainly wasn't bad but there was no pot of gold to be found at the end of this rainbow.